In the startup world that venerates early exits and dropout founders, Paul Graham co-founder of Y Combinator and an alumnus of Cornell (BA) and Harvard (PhD) offers a rare counter-narrative: don’t drop out of college for startups because you can’t get your college years back.

Graham’s own journey underscores his message. His academic path combined rigorous degrees in computer science with creative exploration in art at RISD and Florence. That diverse grounding, he implies, enriched his innovations from launching SaaS pioneer Viaweb (later Yahoo Store) to founding Y Combinator.

College, he argues, offers more than a credential. It’s a low-pressure incubator for critical thinking, failure, collaboration, and creative risk-taking tools that startup culture often overlooks. Mentorship, peer networks, and the ability to experiment intellectually aren’t just “nice to have” they underpin lasting success.

In his post on X, Graham emphasizes that opportunities will never stop arriving but those formative years are finite. Rushing to launch may cost you more than the startup dream gives missing out on reflection, resilience, and context that education uniquely provides.

In a world chasing early hustle, his advice is a powerful reminder: preparation builds power, and college may be a smarter launchpad than it seems.